Another of those American series' that is always well rated and tops polls.
Starts tonight from episode 1 (Sky Atlantic).

Never seen it, so going to give it a bash.

Me too

Thanks Zim, didnt know it was being rerun.

Pouzar considers it superb, Sky Plus time methinks

Best. Series. Ever.

Watched the first series and did enjoy it once it got going (took about 4/5 episodes). Got it on box set but for never got round to watching the second series. May pop it on this weekend seeing as there's no real football on!

Probably the best original screenplay TV drama series ever. Takes an episode, or two, to hook into the street-level dialogue (I found it easier to watch the DVDs on my PC with headphones), but then becomes as addictive as part of the subject matter!

Absolutely unmissable.

For those who have never seen The Wire, the previous posters are undeniably correct to note that it can take a few episodes to get hooked, although they had me right from the story of Snot Boogie. As I posted on the other thread it takes a novelistic approach to story telling, meaning that it is in no rush to grab your attention with shocking events or to display the main characters in their full complexity from the get-go. It is not that the initial episodes are not masterfully constructed. They are. Its that the creator, David Simon, declines to follow many of the conventions of episodic television, such as opening with a murder mystery, finishing each episode with a cliff-hanging event or peopling the work with pure knights and sociopathic villains. Every character in The Wire, like everyone you have ever met, is a mixture of good and bad. In fact the two most beautifully drawn and unforgettable characters in the series for me are a violent stick-up man, Omar, and a struggling drug addict, Bubbles.

Brilliant. Full of wonderful, amazing characters, both cops and villains.

Got to confess though I did listen with the subtitles on. I was missing too much of the dialogue because of the Baltimore patois.

Omar Little - Best. Character. Ever.

And later on Bubbles will break your heart.

Edit - and this was written before reading Pouzar's post.

am giving it a go seeing as its from the start tonight. not heard one bad word about it.

Cheers for the heads up guys ...

Best series ever! It just keeps on getting better all the way through.

I’ve never been able to get past the first episode?? The cops swore more than the criminals. I’m no shrinking violet but do the continually swear for the whole series?

You only watched one episode because the cops swear a lot? You might be better off with Midsomer Murders.

Agree best series ever

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So is this the beginning of Season 1 or another season?

Season 1, Episode 1.

Was at the match last night, so havent watched it yet.
Little treat for Ms Zimm later… some cussing cops. What more could she ask for!

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit I love bunks character

A great series and if you love The Wire then you will also love The Shield which just shades it as the best cop series ever.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286486/

Just not enough time


Sopranos - currently getting to the end of Season 4 (also on Atlantic)

Last 2 series' of 24 to finish off (dont think I will though…. had my fill of it I think).
Still have the last couple seasons of Lost to get through
Still have a season of Heros to get through

These last three, I had watched at the times of broadcast, then just got sidetracked and/or missed the start of them… once a few weeks behind couldnt catch up (dont do the download thing).

Zimm I've just gotten into Dexter myself, just finished the first season and think it's great.

24/Lost/Heroes are all a bit meh really nowadays (although I do love 24), if you fancy something new and fresh I'd recommend Dexter.

Be interested to hear if anyone else has seen and likes it?

I'm bang into Dexter. Brilliant. Only the most recent series to watch on that, and may still being run in the US. So just waiting on it being aired over here ( or someone to download it).

Just watched last nights first episode - very good.

For those who watched the first episode (Those who haven't watched yet stop here) a few things to note. The use of parallels. We are meant to closely compare the institutional behavior of the police and the Barkesdale gang, particularly the way people who make waves are handled. Think of the way Major Rawls reams McNulty's ass and the way Avon lectures his nephew D'angelo. Note how Rawls starts by saying ''Put your ass in the chair,'' and Avon says ''Sit your ass down.'' Note how the senior police officers show no interest at all in actually making things better, but only in keeping their lives simple. McNulty's sin was talking police business with an outsider, a meddling judge. D'angelo not only cost the gang time and money by stupidly shooting a guy in front of multiple witnesses but forgot the rule: ''Don't say any shit to anybody that ain't us,'' just like McNulty.
The gang is more efficient because its leaders are good at their jobs, running a tight ship, taking care of their territory, and making lots of money. In their organization people who do their jobs well get promoted. In the cop shop those who do what they are told and cover their asses, do well, whether they are good cops or crap ones. The flaw in the gang organization is family ties. The only reason the bungling D'angelo has an important job is his relationship to Avon. This parallelism bears watching throughout the series, as does the fact that the Baltimore PD is a very screwed up institution. The constant references to shit rolling downhill and chain of command emphasize this.
Notice how Rawls refers to the 10 unsolved killing in the projects as ''murders that don't mean shit to anybody.'' In other words no one in Baltimore cares about murders in the city's black ghetto, or anything else down there. They do what they do to keep up appearances, but really the folks there (in short the entire American underclass) are of no importance. A continuing theme.
One of the great things about The Wire is the way it builds momentum episode by episode. The first one lays down a lot of the groundwork, introduces you to a lot of characters and begins the slow process of developing them that only a long form story like this can really do.

Your course has started then

We started today. We will watch Episode 1 on Wednesday and discuss it on Thursday. I believe I am ready. We are going to do between 5 and 6 episodes a week so that when we can cover the entire series by April. Should be great.

Some quotes from series creator David Simon, whose artistic vision animates The Wire, from his commentary on Episode 1 on the DVD.

About The Wire's focus - ''This show is really about the American city and how we live together, and its about how institutions have an effect on individuals and how, regardless of what you are committed to, whether you are a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, you are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution you are committed to.''

About the ghetto dwellers of the Baltimore underclass - ''We are trying to depict the world they created after being exiled from the rest of America.''

On parallels between the cop and the crooks - ''The scenes are constructed so that you realize your are looking at competing institutions that operate differently, that have different standards of professionalism, but that nevertheless impose the same will on individuals within them.''

On the War on Drugs - ''What began as a war on illicit narcotics and the damage that they do turned into a war on the underclass in American cities.''

On the form of the series - ''Its much more like a novel or any book you might read... each chapter builds on the next, so that the first chapter draws you in and makes you committed enough to read another chapter, and Chapter two makes you want to read Chapter 3 and by that time you are never going to put the book down if it is a good book and that's the kid of logic we tried to employ in this work. We're building something here and all the pieces matter.''

Hope this helps folks. Keep watching. You won't be sorry.

Watched the first episode last nigh and immediately went fo the sub titles button - unfortunately nothing happened! I am watching on Sky+ and always get sub titles on Sopranos but nothing on the Wire - any suggestions as I am missing some of the swear words.

Now thats a course I might actually not mind doing..

It is VERY demanding, but I say bring it on. The prof has now written a full-length academic book on The Wire and is looking for a publisher. Tuesday we discuss Episodes 2-4, Thursday, 5-7, plus Chaps 4-11 of Middlemarch. It is one thing to watch 6 episodes of The Wire a week. The trick is to ONLY watch six. Of course we are expected to be stopping, rewinding, taking notes, taking 2-3 hours to close watch each episode and writing an assessment for each class along with one for the sections of Middlemarch as well.
Plus he is constantly referring to other sources, like the novel Clockers by Richard Price, which is a major influence on The Wire, as is the Coppola movie, The Conversation, and a host of other books. I am nearly 200 pages into Clockers, which is terrific. Price was hired as a writer for The Wire, as were a selection of the best US crime writers, like Dennis Lehane, who wrote the book Mystic River, which Clint Eastwood later directed as a film. 5 of the 30 original students took one look at the schedule and dropped out after one class, which enabled 2 others to jump in. I will be interested to see if any more are gone on Tuesday. I have NEVER enjoyed homework this much. By the way, are they televising one episode a week in the UK?
I am also doing a course on Clint Eastwood, beginning with the screen persona he created with The Man With No Name spaghetti westerns and the Dirty Harry series, and through many of the films he directed. 22 Eastwood films in all. Also very interesting. Monday we discuss A Fistful of Dollars and Dirty Harry. A lot more fun than working. Not quite as lucrative however.

Mike… here you go.

Im up to date on this so far.

After a slow couple of episodes (which I expected) really getting into it.
Its much like the Sopranos in that its as much about the charactors and relationships than the actual storyline to a lot of intents and purposes.

Have found the dialog slightly difficult to get into, but nothing insurmountable. Mrs Zimm has really struggled.
I just turn the volume up, and i seem to understand. Much like ordering something in Spain or France…. volume overcomes the inability to speak the lingo!!!!

The dialogue of McNulty and ??? reviewing the crime scene of the dead girl from the photos to find a bullet (ep 5?) was a masterstroke of understatement and fairly easy to get along with